Over the years of the Breath and Water Club, several of you have suggested that I look at Masaru Emoto's Messages In Water. Although I haven't read his book, I did recently see his DVD.

I got quite excited by the report of an experiment that a woman and her son did in their home. They put some cooked rice into two jars, covering the jars with paper so they couldn’t see inside. One jar they labeled with the disparaging statement "You Fool." The other jar they labeled with a kind "Thank You." Every day for a month, both mother and son would speak the words to the jars of rice. After a month, they opened the jars. The "You Fool" rice was really nasty looking and smelly -- it was putrid. The rice of the "Thank You" jar was lovely and sweet smelling.

It certainly wasn't a scientific experiment, and neither was it presented as such. But it did remind me of the stories many of you have told in this newsletter, about the changes you noticed in your lives once you began the Breath and Water practice.

Are you any less responsive to energy than cooked rice is? Have you ever said "You Fool!" to yourself?

Putrid Energy

In my view, it wasn't the rice that was putrid, it was the energy that imbued the rice that was putrid. The nastiness was in the energy of the statement. You could say that the energy of "You Fool" covered over the rice, and hid its true and beautiful nature with putrid energy.

I've actually seen this happen in people during readings and healings. When someone makes a "You Fool" statement towards her/his self, that energy congeals in a putrid mass in the body. "Whoa!" I've said, "maybe you want to take that back! You are putrefying yourself!"

When you make a "You Fool" statement toward yourself, or when you give credence to "You Fool" statements that others have given to you, you actually create putrefaction in yourself. "You Fool" energy can take many forms, but it is essentially about stopping your expansion, and it causes putrefaction of self.

Life Giving Energy

After a month, one would expect cooked rice to be moldy at best. But the "Thank You" rice wasn't. Could that be because it was covered over with kind energy? Is that possible? Do you remember the story of the pregnant woman in the Nazi death camp? Then you know it is possible. (see issue
#28)

Think of the forms "Thank You" can take. (I like "You are a wonder of the universe!") When you use a form of "Thank You" energy toward yourself, you make space for your own expansion, and you heal what has become putrid.

Imbue and Imbibe

Imbue and imbibe has always been my favorite of all the Breath and Water suggestions. For one thing, I was quite tickled when I came up with the language of it. And I like the simplicity of the practice. And then there's my early fascination with Holy Water.

Holy Water (which may seem like an aside, but is meant to segue)

I was raised Catholic, and Catholics have something they call Holy Water. A Holy Water font is at the entrance to the church, so that people can dip their fingers in the water and then bless themselves with it.

When I was a girl, I made my own Holy Water. But when I told my friends, they were aghast. What I was doing was blasphemous! Only priests can make Holy Water! Besides, how did I know how to do it? I just do it, I told them. I just say a blessing over the water (an admittedly made-up blessing), and then I name it Holy. I didn't, however, tell them that I actually drank it. That would surely have been a double blasphemy!

I was raised in a family with a surfeit of "You Fool" messages. I suspect that by making and drinking Holy Water, I limited the effect of those messages, and I assured my survival. In some small way, not unlike the woman in the death camp.

Do this experiment

Before you drink your water, before you eat your food, imbue it with statements like "You wonder of the universe!" "Thank You!" "You Beauty!" Not only will you be making your food and water beautiful and sweet smelling, you will be doing the same to yourself.

I want to hear from you!

Try it for a few weeks, be as consistent as you can. Do it every time you eat or drink. Then please write and let me know what you find. We've heard your wondrous results from just breathing and drinking water. What will this value added practice bring? I am excited to hear from you!

P.S.

Implicit in all this, of course, is the suggestion that you also pay attention to the ways you say "You Fool" and "Thank You" to others. So let's just make that explicit.